mothers day

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Beauty all around us

As most of you know, since I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2005 I have been walking about 2 1/2 miles a day five days a week. Its my exercise, and you can't believe how happy it makes my doctor to hear me say "Yes - I walk 4 or 5 days a week. "

I walk at the Layton Park with a friend and we feed the birds each day as we walk (reminder to those who live near me - if you have any cereal, bread, chips, crackers, etc. that get stale or dry or moldy - save them for me - the birds love them -Melinda gave me a whole bag full of stuff on Thursday and my swans and ducks and geese were so happy on Friday morning!)

Anyway - this last couple of weeks of winter weather has made walking VERY interesting. Lots of ice and slippery surfaces. Cheryl walks no matter the weather, and I join her. We really bundle up on the really cold mornings and dress for the weather whatever it may be.Some days we trudge through the snow that fell all night the night before and sometimes we are lucky enough to follow the snowplow down the path .

I kept thinking as I walked day after day - this is so beautiful, I need to tell Shawn to bring his camera over to the park. Then one day I decided I would bring my camera over to the park. These snapshots are nothing like what Shawn can manage but they remind me of the beauty I enjoy every day - even when I am sure I am going to slip on some hidden ice and fall and break my neck!!!

So these are my pictures that I took last week at the Layton City Park. One morning we saw four deer nestled in the snow near the river. That was the day I decided to bring my camera every day - because each day is so different. Wednesday of this week I had a staffing at Jill's care center at the same time I should have been walking so I told Cheryl she would have to walk alone that day. She emailed later on that afternoon that I had missed a crystal fairyland. It had snowed all day on Tuesday and then the clouds moved out and it started melting that afternoon and evening. When the sun went down that night the melted droplets turned to ice crystals and each tree was coated to perfection. As Cheryl walked Wednesday morning the sun shown down through the trees hitting the ice crystals and it was gorgeous. Of course, by the time I walked on Thursday, everything had melted and dried off and the fairyland had disappeared.

The park is a wonderful place to walk - we walk and talk and enjoy our feathered friends. I love it. My next post will be showing some of the beauty of the deserts of Arizona.

2 comments:

I love it when the trees are covered in crystals. That is so pretty and just ethereal to me. It is so nice that you have someone who is so motivated to walk with. That helps. Shawn is motivated most of the time. He does have a hard time motivating me though. I really need to be better.

And we've had such nice weather down here! That means our pictures wouldn't be nearly as pretty because everything is melted and there's just a bunch of old, brown dead stuff right now. Early spring is just not a pretty season.